an about-face... book

i hate facebook. i know, i know - just shut up. i know i'm on it. signing up was sort of like going streaking through downtown at 3pm on a Tuesday - it seemed like a good enough idea after a few drinks, but then you realize that you're standing on the corner of 3rd and market with your tommy johnsons right there for the world to see. what are you supposed to do, break down crying and fumble around for a few sf weeklies to drape around your trembling body, sloppily explaining to passersby through tears and spittle that you're not supposed to be there? no, you stand there like it's perfectly normal until people forget that you're there at all - which is exactly what i did. i pretended like i was not standing on the corner of "friend me st" and "i forgot that i knew you even for a moment in my life blvd".

six degrees of separation being forced and crammed down to one or two has its occasional benefits though, apparently. the father-in-law of jean's cousin has been missing in portland since sunday. having met the man only once, i know him really only through hanging out with his son several times and that's been enough to know he's a really remarkable man. it remains to be seen if and when he will be located, but there is currently an army of thousands in the northwest aware of his disappearance, due in large part to the viral spread on fb. the group established to raise awareness swelled to well over 400 people within a day and that kind of movement would have been incredibly difficult otherwise.

in the end, the family will know the effort to find their dad has been shared by many, many people.